Invalid chair loader for automobiles



Dec. 31, 1963 A. T.'ANDERSON, JR., ETAL 7 INVALID CHAIR LOADER FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed March 14, 1961 RICHARD J FRANK United States Patent 7 burg, Fla.

Filed Mar. 14, 1961, Ser. No. 95,612

2 Claims. (Cl. 214-450) This invention relates to lifting devices for invalid chairs and more particularly to invalid chair lifts for automobiles.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide means by which said chairs, particularly those of the portable foiding type may be lifted with the minimum of effort and the maximum of control without complicated mechanism.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide means for those of limited strength, such as nurses, female assistants and the like to handle such chairs into and out of automobiles without excessive effort or physical strain. It will be understood that invalids requiring such chairs and particularly paraplegics are often able to operate motor vehicles but unable to handle wheel chairs which they require for transportation when outside of the automobile and that heretofore it has been necessary for some attendant to manually lift the wheel chair into and out of the automobile and to lift the entire Weight of such wheel chair in the process. It is a particular object of this invention to provide a carrier for such chairs which will enable the invalids wife, nurse or child through the use of simple leverages to perform such loading and unloading operations without ever having to lift the full weight of the chair or to exert their full strength in such manipulations.

It is also an important object of this invention to provide such a minimum effort lift in a form which can be easily and economically manufactured and thus sold at a price Well within the limited financial abilities usual to such invalids, so that means are provided to further assist the invalid in overcoming his disability and his dependency on the community for support and whereby he will be given further means to earn his own living and exercise to the full performance of his profession or trade.

Certain other improvements and advantages will appear as the appended description develops and as the mechanism disclosed in the appended drawings is disclosed. In the drawings a preferred embodiment constructed of aluminum tubing and especially designed for quantity manufacture by standard methods employed in the aluminum furniture industry is shown, but it will be understood that this is solely for the purposes of illustration of possible low cost quantity production easily assembled without special parts and that the applicants may equally Well use welded construction with a reduction of assembly parts required. Such well known equivalents have prompted the applicants to show in the drawings (FIGS. 2 to only semi-diagrammatic structures for purposes of description.

In the drawings FIG. 1 is an elevation of the frame carrier device employed in our invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevation to slightly reduced scale showing the device of FIG. 1 in the process of having a wheel chair mounted thereon.

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the device of FIG. 1 showing the second step of mounting a wheel chair thereon.

FIG. 4 shows in another embodiment the device with the wheel chair mounted thereon being levered into an automobile having a load carrying surface and in which the wheels are mounted more centrally of the frame.

FIG. 5 shows the device with the wheel chair thereon resting in the automobile body for transport therein.

It will be understood that the details of the portable 3,1153%: Patented Dec. 31, 1963 wheel chair have been omitted from the drawings to avoid unnecessary complication thereof and that the construction of such chairs is well known to those skilled in the art and substantially standard to the industry.

Referring now to FIG. 1, our transporter device will be seen to consist of a main frame 10, one of whose lower ends 11 is bent forwardly at right angles and the other of whose lower ends 12 is also bent forwardly substantially parallel to member 11, but extending therebeyond and given a second bend upon which is mounted hand grip 14. A brace member 16 extends between members 11 and 12 and projects beyond member 12 to provide a loop 17 which serves as a foot pressed clamp to hold the whole device erect when standing upon the ground in the position of FIG. 1. We also prefer to brace frame 10 by means of a cross member 20 of a sub-frame 21 which projects upward parallel to frame 10 and is bent backwardly as at 22 to carry an axle shaft '24 for the wheels 25. Also mounted upon frame 10 is a chair support sub-frame 30 having the forwardly projecting members 32 and 34, both of which are provided with a stop or guard 35. It will be understood that to best perform our invention this entire frame must be rigid, but of extremely light weight and we prefer to construct it of aluminum using a standard type tubing whose cost factor is low so that our device may be available to the incapacitated persons it is intended to serve.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the first step in mounting a wheel chair upon the transporter frame will be seen and in this figure the operator has placed a foot F upon the loop 17 to hold the frame (here shown diagrammatically as 16d) and has tilted the wheel chair C backwardly upon its larger wheels W by downward pressure upon its handles H, with the wheel chair so tilted it is swung to engage a front end of the chair frame A with member 32 of the transporter and passed thereover until stopped by member 35. Handles H are then raised as shown in FIG. 3 and hooked over projection 34 of the transporter frame, as indicated in FIG. 3, and it will be evident that the wheel chair is now wholly supported by the transporter in the position indicated in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 shows the whole transporter with the wheel chair thereon at the rear of an automobile body 50 and shows the operator, who has now hooked transporter wheels 25 over the body edge and grasped handle 14, levering upward to raise the unit to the automobile body level whereupon it may be wheeled forwardly therein until it rests in the position shown in FIG. 5 and may be transported by the automobile as desired. Where desired automobile body 50 may be provided with suitable guides such as tracks 59-1. for the device and these tracks may include vertical adjustments for-the wheels 25. It will also be understood that wheels 25 may, in some cases, be replaced by sliding shoes and the like equivalents and that while for purposes of illustration the rear of an automobile and tracks parallel to the longitudinal axis of the automobile body have been shown, such guides and supports may, in fact, be transverse to the automobile structure or at an angle thereto.

It will be understood that while automobile bodies vary with the model, year and manufacture that such variations may be met with suitable modifications in our device without departure from the spirit of this invention and that our transporter is adaptable to substantially any automobile having a body and an opening above the floor thereof through which our transporter may be introduced and that while the riding position of the transporter and chair may vary, the functions accomplished will be identical. It will also be clear that while the device shown in FIG. 1 is shown as comprised of three units joined together, such frame may, in fact, be unitary in construcan! i tion and may be fabricated by welding or other well known fabrication methods without departing from the essentials thereof for the purposes described, and that all such modifications and adaptations to automobile or wheel chair structure are well within the spirit of this invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. An apparatus for transporting a collapsible wheel chair comprising an elongated carrier frame having front and rear surfaces when disposed in a vertical plane, a roller unit mounted on an axis extending transversely of the frame on the rear surface thereof, wheel chair engaging means including first and second projecting means, said first projecting means being mounted generally perpendicularly on the frame at one side of the front surface of the frame and being disposed on said one side of the roller unit axis, said second projecting means being mounted generally perpendicularly on the frame at the other side of the front surface of the frame and being disposed on the other side of the roller unit axis, the lower end of the frame including handle means extending outwardly from the front surface at one side of the frame for permitting a wheel chair to be rolled to and from a position in front of the frame.

2. An apparatus for transporting a collapsible wheel chair comprising an elongated carrier frame having front and rear surfaces when disposed in a vertical plane, a

roller unit mounted on an axis extending transversely of the frame on the rear surface thereof, wheel chair engaging means including first and second projecting means, said first projecting means being mounted generally perpendicularly on the frame at one side of the front surface of the frame and being disposed on said one side of the roller unit axis, said second projecting means being mounted generally perpendicularly on the frame at the other side of the front surface of the frame and being disposed on the other side of the roller unit axis, the lower end of the frame including handle means, a vehicle having a load carrying surface, said carrier with said roller unit frame being rollable on said load carrying surface until the roller unit is adjacent the edge of said load carrying surface at which time the carrier frame is pivotable from a generally horizontal position to a generally vertical position about the roller axis with the handle means being finally disposed adjacent the ground, whereby the carrier frame is in position to receive or discharge a wheel chair.

References Qite-d in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,436,665 Monro Nov. 28, 1922 2,547,083 Lundgren Apr. 5, 1951 2,663,474 Kelly Dec. 22, 1953 2,782,947 Linsel Feb. 26, 1957 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING A COLLAPSIBLE WHEEL CHAIR COMPRISING AN ELONGATED CARRIER FRAME HAVING FRONT AND REAR SURFACES WHEN DISPOSED IN A VERTICAL PLANE, A ROLLER UNIT MOUNTED ON AN AXIS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE FRAME ON THE REAR SURFACE THEREOF, WHEEL CHAIR ENGAGING MEANS INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND PROJECTING MEANS, SAID FIRST PROJECTING MEANS BEING MOUNTED GENERALLY PERPENDICULARLY ON THE FRAME AT ONE SIDE OF THE FRONT SURFACE OF THE FRAME AND BEING DISPOSED ON SAID ONE SIDE OF THE ROLLER UNIT AXIS, SAID SECOND PROJECTING MEANS BEING MOUNTED GENERALLY PERPENDICULARLY ON THE FRAME AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FRONT SURFACE OF THE FRAME AND BEING DISPOSED ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROLLER UNIT AXIS, THE LOWER END OF THE FRAME INCLUDING HANDLE MEANS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM THE FRONT SURFACE AT ONE SIDE OF THE FRAME FOR PERMITTING A WHEEL CHAIR TO BE ROLLED TO AND FROM A POSITION IN FRONT OF THE FRAME. 